


Please Proceed with Caution and Handle with Care

by reeei



Series: McDanno drabbles [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Cargument, Character Study, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 09:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1463479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeei/pseuds/reeei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve doesn't like physical contacts. Danny is no exception...or is he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Proceed with Caution and Handle with Care

**Author's Note:**

> My first McDanno fic yattaaaaaaa.  
> Originally posted [here](http://liiiiiiing.tumblr.com/post/82676827877/).  
> Thanks to my fellow McDanno victims on Tumblr for encouraging me ;)

Steve doesn’t like to be touched. He doesn’t like physical contacts. To him, the hardest part about military is this. The lack of personal space, the physical closeness to his comrades, it drives Steve crazy. But he sucks it up, because he’s got nowhere else to go.

And then Danny happens. Danny touches people all the time. He touches people’s hands, arms, shoulders when he talks. He touches people’s backs, waists, elbows when he walks. He even touches Steve’s butt sometimes to urge him to walk before him.

What surprises Steve the most is that he hasn’t noticed. His body doesn’t twitch or flinch when Danny touches him. (Well, except for the first time Danny pokes his butt.) He hasn’t realized that Danny has been inside his personal space so much, and it terrifies him.

Now that he knows, he starts to flinch when Danny touches him. Danny immediately notices his flinching, eyes him curiously but doesn’t say anything, very uncharacteristically. And he stops touching Steve.

 

 

Danny hasn’t touched Steve for two whole days.

The thought sounds so fucked up even in his own head.

Danny doesn’t lean onto Steve’s side when Kono shows them some photos on her iPad. Danny doesn’t pat Steve on the back when they wrap up a case. Danny doesn’t touch Steve’s arm when he yells at him in the car.

Steve wants it to go back to the way it was. He wants Danny to go back to touching him all the damn time.

Uh, yeah, that doesn’t sound weird  _at all_.

 

 

"Why are you staring at me?" Danny’s voice brings Steve back to reality.

"Am not." Steve retorts.

"Correction: why are you staring at my hands?" Danny rolls his eyes.

"Am…"

"Stop it. You totally are. What is it?" Danny’s face is neutral, Steve can’t read his expression and it’s unsettling.

Steve sighs. “Nothing.”

Danny raises his eyebrows but he doesn’t press the issue. He starts to talk about Grace and her new tutor.

 

 

It has been a week, Steve feels like a fish out of the water.

He’s been thinking about how to let Danny know it’s okay to touch him without sounding like a creep.

Maybe, maybe he can initiate the touching, so that Danny will know he can touch Steve.

He’s going to give it a try.

 

 

"What is your hand doing?" Danny asks curiously.

They’re on their way back the the Palace. They have not argued about anything for the past 15 minutes, which is a first.

Steve glances at his own right hand, which is currently hanging in the air, between the shift and Danny’s forearm. He pulls it back and onto his lap.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit."

Steve can feel Danny’s gaze. He fidgets.

"Steven, what is going on?" Danny asks after a long moment.

"What, what?" Steve keeps his eyes on the road.

"Don’t play dumb, it’s unattractive. Talk to me, big guy. Even Max knows you’ve been acting weird." Danny sounds amused.

"I’ve not been acting…" Steve chews his bottom lip. This is a chance, he should take it.

Steve thinks.

Danny is silent.

Steve considers how he should start.

Danny is still silent.

Steve thinks some more.

Danny inhales as if he’s going to say something, but he doesn’t.

Steve finally squeezes out, “You haven’t t…touched me, ever since…”

Danny is still very quiet.

Steve turns his head slightly to peep at Danny. Danny’s mouth is a perfect “O”.

"Oh. My. God. It’s about…about… _this_?!” Danny yells and his hands are flying everywhere.

"Don’t yell in the car, you’re hurting my ears." Steve feels much lighter now that it’s out.

"I’m not yelling. I’m merely emphasizing the ridiculousness of your little episode." Danny’s volume is not reducing.

"Jesus, lower your voice before you break my ear drum. And it’s not ridiculous!" Steve pauses for a second and then continues, "Okay, it may be a little, just a  _little_ , ridiculous, but you don’t need to yell.”

Danny sighs but says nothing.

Steve anxiously tries to explain, “It’s not that…I don’t…I mean…” He wants to bang his head on the steering wheel, repeatedly, hard.

A warm hand falls on his right hand. “Calm down, Superman.” Danny audibly exhales, “I stopped because you seemed uncomfortable about it the other day. The first time, I poked your arm and you twitched, I thought it was nothing. The second time, I squeezed your shoulder and you shuddered a little, I thought it was a coincidence. The third time was the charm, you took a step back when I pat you on your back. So I stopped. Now I’m confused. Do you not like it when I touch you or do you not like it when I don’t? You can’t have both.”

"I…I didn’t….it didn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s just…" Steve tries.

"What is it?" Danny gently asks.

"I’m not used to having people in my personal space, is all. And no one has ever been bold enough to invade my personal space  _and_  dares to touch me without asking first.” Steve blurts out.

"Huh." Danny huffs.

"I just had a realization the other day. Not uncomfortable."

"Uh-huh." Danny snorts.

"What?" Steve asks, a little irritated.

"Nothing." 

"You have a tone, remember? What?"

"I don’t have a tone. But I’m nice so I’m gonna say it. In conclusion, you don’t like people touching you but you want me to touch you? You know how weird and inappropriate that sounds right?"

"You’re not  _people_ , Danny.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, Steve wants to slams his head into the windshield.

"Oh, I see." Danny says. Steve can hear Danny’s smug smile in his tone.

"I’m not asking you to  _touch_  me, okay? I’m just telling you that you  _can_.” Steve thinks his face is warm enough to fry eggs.

"Got it. You can put it however you want, Steven. All I’m hearing is, ‘ _please_ touch me, Danny.’” Danny teases.

"No, that’s not what I mean!" Steve clarifies very loudly.

A hand snakes around the back of his neck. Danny’s voice is suddenly too close.

"I got you, buddy." Danny whispers into Steve’s right ear and presses a light kiss on his cheek.

The Camaro swerves.

"God fucking dammit!" Steve swears as he wheels the car back onto the road.

"That’s the spirit, super SEAL." Danny laughs.


End file.
